(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a processing system for processing information stored in cards, such as credit cards, prepaid cards and cards for stamp services, each of which having a plurality of functions.
(2) Description of the Related Art
Recently, various types of cards, such as credit cards and prepaid cards, have become popular. These types of cards are issued by various issuers, such as department stores, large scale stores, credit companies in concert with stores, specialty stores, small scale stores, chains and groups.
To improve services for users of cards and to accelerate usage of cards, cards which can be used in transaction fields different from each other and cards having functions corresponding to additional services have also become proposed. A point service has been popular, in which service points corresponding to purchase amounts in shopping and frequency of shopping are granted to a customer, and the customer can receive a bonus comparable to the total service points granted to him/her. Credit cards may have an additional function corresponding, for example, to this point service.
A card having a plurality of functions must store information corresponding to the plurality of functions to be executed. Thus, the quantity of information in each card is increased and the contents of the information becomes complex. If the information in the card is corrupted, the user of the card may suffer great losses. To reduce the risk of corruption of the information in the card, it is preferable that the number of operations required to process the information in the card is small and that the operations themselves are simple.
In a case where information stored in a card having a plurality of functions is processed, in general, different processing devices (e.g. bank cash machines and store teller units) process information for different functions. If one processing device has an error caused by, for example, an error input, malfunction of the device, or power supply interruption, there is an apprehension that not only information to be processed by the processing device having the error is corrupted but also that information related to other functions of the card may be corrupted.
In addition, even if the information for a plurality of functions in a card can be processed by one processing device, the card is ejected from the processing device after processing for a function that has been completed, and the card must be inserted into the processing device again to process the information for another function of the card. That is, in a case where information for a plurality of functions of the card is processed, processes for the plurality of functions can not be continuously carried out, and insertion and ejection of the card must be performed for each process.
It is desired, in the point service, that a granting rate at which the service points are granted to a user be changed, for example, in accordance with a payment plan, such as a lump-sum payment plan, a partial payment plan or a revolving payment plan. In this case, a process for the point service and a process for changing the granting rate of the service point are separately carried out. Thus, operations for changing the granting rate of the service points, under a condition in which the process for the point service is being performed, are complex.